Modell"s picks Symbol wireless handhelds

24.06.2005
Von Matt Hamblen

Modell"s Sporting Goods, a family-owned retail chain in the New York area, has begun a US$1 million wireless handheld rollout to all of its 130 stores and its distribution center.

The rollout, which involves 350 rugged MC9000-G handheld computers from Symbol Technologies Inc., is expected to take four months. The handhelds are equipped with bar code scanners to read product labels and have Wi-Fi capability to transmit data to servers, CIO Hans Kantor said in an interview Friday. Each store will also have a WS2000 branch office wireless switch from Symbol.

Clerks will be able to use the wireless devices to make sales and give customers their receipts from anywhere in a store. And warehouse clerks and truck drivers will be able to use the devices to quickly update shipping information, Kantor said.

The handhelds will replace wireless Telzon 960sl devices first installed in the 1990s. Modell"s opted for gear from Symbol because they have a much larger storage capacity and can send much larger batches of data wirelessly, he said. Kantor also said Symbol has a strong commitment to research and development.

Because the wireless data will be used in real time, the company believes the system will help deliver sporting goods faster to customers and replenish out-of-stock items quickly. That, said Kantor, is aimed at keeping Modell"s competitive with rivals.

In the future, Kantor also hopes to use the devices to help store managers pick up video surveillance feeds to track cashiers and store exits to guard against theft. The handheld"s bright 3.8-in. diagonal color screen is large enough to display video surveillance film, he said.

Also in the future, the handhelds could also be used to track inventory marked with radio frequency identification tags, although the tags need to be more reliable and cheaper before Modell"s uses them.

"I"m certainly excited for RFID technology, but I"m going to wait for the standards and for the cost to come down," Kantor said.